Dry and Sunny.
A fairly uneventful few weeks have passed since I last added an entry. Many of the Summer visitors have appeared over the last weeks, not least a Cuckoo could be heard from the garden last week. The first I have heard here for several years. There are plenty of Swallows and House Martins about the village too. I have heard a Blackcap singing in the hedge at the bottom of the garden, although I've not seen it. Several Chiff Chaffs are about the area making their presence known with their distinctive call. A pair of Hedge Sparrows are nesting in our large Clematis Montana " Rubens ". They are making dozens of visits a day, now, to the nest so must have youngsters there.
Only one unusual visitor to the garden recently, a Green Woodpecker, on the feeders.Quite a few Butterflies about now that the weather has warmed up. Peacocks, Orange Tips and a Speckled Wood have all been noticed, along with a few Red Tailed Bumble Bees. Many young Rabbits about the verges too, with a lot of them failing to out run the traffic.
The first fledgling I have seen this year was a Mistle Thrush being fed by one adult in a small grass paddock nearby.

Mild but damp after overnight rain.
I really must try to keep this more up to date. Most of the local birds appear to be busy singing and nest building. Almost everything is carrying bits of stick, moss, grass, feathers etc. depending on size and species of course.
I have seen a single Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on several occasions, sometimes drumming and usually high up in large Oak trees. Also one sighting of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker in the Oak wood near our village football field.
Members of the Thrush family seem to be very much in evidence probably because I see them feeding out in the open. A Mistle Thrush was seen chasing a Jay this morning, I hope it hadn't lost eggs or young to this colourful member of the Crow family. Song Thrushes and Blackbirds seem to abound at the moment, I guess it is easier feeding now that we have had an appreciable amount of rain. When it is very dry they seem to spend a lot of time rooting about under shrubs and through the accumulated leaves on the ground, looking for sustenance.
A very unusual sighting from my window yesterday. A pair of Mandarin Ducks flew in and landed in an Oak tree before dropping into the recently replanted area of Forestry land adjacent. I guess that they were nest site hunting. There are surely plenty of nooks and crannies among the piles of treetops etc. that are to be found on that piece of ground. It is a long way from any water and that is only a tiny brook that leads off towards the A48.

Cold and misty early, hot and sunny later.
Plenty of birds singing now. Our resident cock Blackbird is certainly letting everyone know that he is about. There is a Robin singing almost all day long, I guess he must stop to feed at times. There are several pairs of Hedge Sparrows in the garden and you can usually hear one singing. I'm sure that one pair are nest building near the house, although I haven't found a nest yet. Wrens have nested in the Ivy covering a fence in past years, so may do so again. There are definitely Jackdaws busy in one of our chimneys.
I watched some Jays this morning, searching under oak trees,no doubt looking for acorns that had been hidden during the autumn. Magpies have been busy nest building, or at least adding to last years remaiders. Some of them are becoming quite enormous, nests that is, not the birds.
Blue and Great Tits seem to abound, so much so that they appear to be the only birds about at times. Starlings seemed to be much in evidence today after going some days without seeing any. Greenfinch numbers seem to have picked up here and Goldfinches are very numerous.
Plenty of squirrels around today and rabbits, including youngsters. A Peacock butterfly was also sighted this morning just sunning itself on the ground.